Listen to the whole podcast here or make the jump for the specific questions and answers from Mayor Bissonnette.

Before jumping in to this week's first question, the Mayor talked up the plans already in the works for this year's Memorial Day Parade and the Fourth of July's Fest of All. The parade is the biggest in Western Mass for Memorial Day and the July party extends to four days this year with a full weekend of music, activities and fireworks.

The first question comes from a Chicopee native who now resides in San Francisco, Joseph Collins. Listen in as the Mayor ticks off the reasons why Chicopee is unique including a more solid housing market, federal spending upwards of $100 million on Westover, and four hundred plus manufacturing jobs coming to town with Harvey Manufacturing. He closes his remarks with an axiom about California that hopefully won't tick off too many Californians.

What do you see as Chicopee's role in the Pioneer Valley? Straddled in-between Springfield and Holyoke in an area that hasn't seen much economic growth in several decades, it could seem that Chicopee is in a competition for funds and investment. What do you feel makes Chicopee unique, and what do you think the community should do to attract jobs and development? (Joseph Collins)

Piggybacking on the Mayor's reference to Westover in the above response is this question regarding cheapseat airline SkyBus' recent closing at the airbase along with all of its other ports. The Mayor wasn't too surprised by that development considering how tight they kept their profit margin but is hopeful about bringing another small carrier to the $15 million passenger terminal. Now that Chicopee has a proven track record with the airline industry, he hopes for another carrier to jump on the Northeast route to Florida and other points south.

How does the recent shuttering of SkyBus at Westover effect Chicopee?

Finally, Jessica Greenaway of Chicopee asks about plans for the Fire and Police Departments in the way of the dispatch system. The Mayor doesn't see many changes any time soon due to the already tight budget and his reluctance to add to the tax rate of property owners. Listen to the full answer below.

Has the City ever looked at Civilian Dispatching for Police and Fire so that we can take the police officers and firefighters off the desk and put them on the streets / fire trucks? (Jessica Greenaway)